


Behave

by AnabielVriskaMars



Category: Namesake (Webcomic)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-20
Updated: 2015-10-20
Packaged: 2018-04-27 05:18:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,675
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5035354
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnabielVriskaMars/pseuds/AnabielVriskaMars
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Its not that Warrick was being childish.</p><p>It was just that he was upset at being left behind while everybody else went out so he was sitting upside down in the ceiling with his coat covering his face.</p><p>"You do realize I'm stuck here, too, right?" </p><p>Ah yes.</p><p>Alone with Emma.</p><p>Lovely.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Behave

"You're acting like a baby." Selva remarked. Of course,  _she_ was packing her clothes, cause  _she_ was going on the trip. Warrick crossed his arms over his chest.

"Am  _not_."

"You're sulking because you're not coming on a short trip. How is that  _not_ acting like a baby?" Selva shoved an unnecessarily large hat into her bag.

Warrick grumbled.

"By  _Oz_ , Warrick, we're just going overnight. We''l be back before you notice." Selva flopped down in bed next to him. 

"By  _why_ do  _I_ have to be the only one who stays here? Its infuriating! Emma said Liverpool had one of the  _best_ libraries of this world."

Selva rolled her eyes and suppressed an irritated huff.

"Its rainy season." She explained. "Alice says the storms get pretty bad, and it would be really difficult keeping you dry all that time. She says its better if you stay."

Warrick glared. "Is there anything  _else_ Alice says? You've been spending an awful lot with her lately." He peered sideways, and caught just the edge of Selva's blush. "Are you  _serious?_ She's a nightmare!"

Selva waved her hand. "You have no idea what you're talking about." A little smile escaped her lips, along with her blush. "She's  _so_ cute." Selva gushed.

Warrick growled, but didn't say anything more. Alice  _was_ a nightmare, but he hadn't seen Selva this  _genuinely_ happy for a while... and he knew that was his fault. Ever since that idiotic spell he'd kind of screwed Selva over, and she had no idea.  _Oz_ , he couldn't  _tell_ her. No, there had to be a way out of it. _  
_

There _had_ to.

"Besides," Selva chirped, completely unaware of his grim thoughts, "you won't be alone!" She grinned and for a second Warrick felt he ought to be concerned.

* * *

"You really  _do_ have to come down eventually, you know." This time it was Elaine's voice.

Wendy, Selva and Ben had already tried coaxing him down. Now it was Elaine's turn, he supposed.

"Maybe later." He grumbled. His hair was walling across his eyes --across his entire face, really. Its just one of those things that tend to happen when you're throwing a tantrum and sitting upside down in the ceiling of the main hall.

"I don't understand your drama." Alice spoke to him for the first time, dragging herself away from barking orders, "we're just going for some provisions and a few books for Elaine. Its not even interesting."

To be completely honest, he had  _no_ idea why he was so cross.

He was just... irritated. At everything. Everyone.

He'd lived ina huge castle by himself with only a bird for company for years and he'd been happy as a clam--

\--okay, maybe 'happy' wasn't the right word, but he had been content.

But now, knowing that everybody was going on a trip and he had to stay in Calliope with a bunch of scientists that looked at him like a pet project and a cat--that frankly kind of unnerved him-- doing nothing. Alone.

Yeah, he  _could_ study, but he just _grumblegrmblegrumble._

 _"_ You  _do_ realize I'm staying too, right?" Emma's voice was almost enough to make him lose focus and plunge face first into the ground, but he caught himself before falling more than an inch. Nobody had seen that, right?

"What?" he asked, a bit bewildered. To his horror, he could see a little curl in Alice's lips. 

 _She'd seen him flinch. Damn it_.

"Me. Staying." Emma gestured. "Not going on the trip."

This actually  _did_ pique his attention.

"What? Why?"

Alice, again, was the beholden of answers. "Do you really think we'd separate you from Emma? We  _do_ want Calliope to be standing when we come back, you know."

Warrick tried not to feel offended, but failed.

"And what  _exactly_ do you think I'd do?  _Heal_ it to ruins?"

Selva popped her head around Alice. "Well, you  _did_ set an entire forrest on fire."

He scoffed. "That was like three years ago."

Selva was going to reply, but Alice stood between the twins. "Well, we try to make it a point not to let warlocks with a history of pyromancy unattended. Besides, we have not seen how you react when not under the influence of Emma, and our first test trial will most certainly  _not_ be while we're out." She smiled condescendingly. "So sit down, be quiet, and enjoy your day off. The both of you."

He  _was_ going to retort, but her sharp glare and a little bit of common sense told him that it would be useless.

So he just watched them load the car and leave, Selva waving from afar. He could vaguely hear her advice to 'behave.'

He was also very aware how, directly underneath him, Emma looked tired and a little bit worried, but said nothing.

* * *

It was strange how their absence was so palpable.

If he were being honest, and that was something he usually tried to avoid doing to himself, he'd say he missed them.

Mostly, though, he was just bored.

He leaned back on his chair in the library. He'd been reading the exact same paragraph for the last 20 minutes and he could still most certainly not tell what it was about. His mind was just somewhere else entirely.

Warrick sighed. He wasn't getting anywhere with this.

He closed the book gently and returned it to its shelf, before walking down the hallways in a strange order that most certainly did  _not_ involve in any way him trying to  _accidentally_ run into Emma.

The fact that he did was total coincidence.

The fact that he almost ran _over_ Emma was just embarrassing.

"Oh, crap," he said, dodging her at the last second. He honestly hadn't seen her until the'd taken that corner and nearly slammed into her. Barely, they managed a collision.

"Damn, sorry!" she said. "Sorry, I didn't see you there."

Warrick smiled a little. It seemed like that was all he could do when he was around Emma, and that he only  _could_  do it around her.

"No harm done," he said gently. Emma smiled, but it was empty and her eyes looked sad, and that was just enough to make Warrick feel like he'd eaten an entire wrench and it was making its way to his stomach. "Hey," his voice became softer, even though he hadn't intended it to, "are you alright?"

When Emma looked up, Warrick had to stop himself from gasping.

There wasn't anything wrong with her face. He just thought she was really pretty.

What he did notice, but only after a few seconds of poor ogling, was that there were very dark circles under her eyes.

"Emma, have you been sleeping at  _all?_ " his voice was still low, but less gentle. More concerned.

It was amazing how the mere presence of Emma made symphonies out of him.

She half-smiled sleepily, making the wrench in his stomach become something far gentler. Before she could reply, a yawn escaped her lips.

"I've been working with Travis and training a little more than I thought, I guess." This time the other corner of her mouth pulled up and she smiled a little at Warrick. "I swear, this day off is like a gift from the heavens."

Warrick felt as if an invisible cable that had been coiled up around his body suddenly let loose. He now felt his shoulders slump a little, relaxed. 

Emma was fine.

"So," she asked, straightening her back a little and trying to look more energetic. "What were your plans for today? Please don't tell me studying. We barely get any time off."

Warrick laughed nervously. "Well, I don't know what else there is to do here..."

And  _no_ , he wasn't fishing for plans. In fact, he hadn't noticed until after he'd said it how that  _could_ sound like fishing for plans.

But he would not lie and say it didn't make him happy when Emma took the bait-that-wasnt-really-bait.

She smiled fully, and if Warrick had a heartbeat, he was  _sure_ it would be going haywire just about now.

"Well, tonight you're hanging out with me."

* * *

He was pretty sure it wasn't normal to feel that your face was burning all the time.

It couldn't be, right?

And he didn't really get sick, you know. Being a walking corpse and all that would be kind of weird.

So why was it that his face felt like there was a flame perpetually lit under his skin? Why was it that his laughter seemed trapped in his throat and it took less than a nudge to coax it out?

Why was it that he felt so...mirthful?

"I didn't know you  _could_ laugh for extended periods of time." Emma joked. Warrick's face sort of relaxed into a resting small smile at her.

Emma was sitting on the floor next to him, and for some reason or another, they were watching these.. pre-played plays? In a box?

"Don't glare at the TV. Do you have  _any_ idea of how overused the non-human-unacquainted-with-technology-misunderstanding-the-TV trope is? Cause its very overused and I'd prefer not living it. Just imagine its a book and you're watching it happen, okay?"

"Fine." Warrick grumbled, but it wasn't a grumble like the ones of the afternoon.

This afternoon he was genuinely  _bothered_ by everything that happened. Right now he was pretty relaxed, and he felt himself sink back against the bed.

"Travis says it was probably my fault, you know." Emma said, out of nowhere. Warrick glanced sideways at her. "Your mood," she explained, "my fault."

Warrick blinked a couple of times. "Huh?"

"Remember that you need me to stop the wickedness and all. Travis says that I've been exhausting myself so much that I probably forgot to turn the filter on around you, so you're all simmering in darkness."

He scowled. "I'm not simmering in darkness."

Emma bumped her shoulder against his. It was a friendly gesture, but it still made a little ripple of warmth across his skin. 

"You're  _definitely_ simmering in darkness."

His scowl deepened, but he wasn't angry. Emma looked at him and laughed hard.

"What?" He asked, confused.

"Nothing," she said, still laughing, "I just remembered back when we met. You looked like that  _all_ the time."

Warrick tried to look offended, and scoffed to hide a laugh. "Did  _not_."

"You  _definitely_ did. You growled at  _everything_ and your first instinct was to destroy everyone." Emma smiled. "You were kind of a jerk."

Warrick growled, but no matter how deep inside of him he reached, he couldn't find anger. Only warmth.

"You're not anymore, though," she smiled, and looked sideways at him. This look evaporated any thought he'd had. Of anything. At all. "You turned out to be pretty great, you know?"

He felt the tug on one side of his lips. His voice was disembodied, like it seemed to be happen more and more often when he was with Emma. "You turned out pretty great, too." The voice said. He regained just a little bit of control, just enough to save a  _little_ bit of pride. "I mean, at first you were  _insufferable_."

Emma laughed freely. It was a lovely sound.

It made something inside of him resolve.

He forgot the Tee-Vee and stood up, offering his hand. Emma stared, confused.

"Come on," he encouraged. Emma didn't ask where they were going. She just smiled and took his hand.

* * *

Taking Emma for a flight definitely wasn't the same as taking Elaine.

Elaine had been wild and laughing and had felt flying like a sort of freedom.

Emma was clutching him so hard it was increasingly difficult to breathe. Good thing he didn't really need to.

"I thought we established that I wasn't going to drop you."

Emma tightened her hug. "Y-yeah."

"Could you relax a bit then?" Warrick asked, even though he didn't mind one bit.

"Huh? No." She pressed herself tighter.

He was landing gently and slowly, holding her close -- _just so that she doesn't fall_ , he told himself-- and looked down to see how close they were to the roof.

It was coincidence, really, that his nose ended up buried in her hair, and that he could smell just how much like coffee she smelled.

Much too early, he landed, both their feet gently grazing the rooftop until their weights were solidly established. And yet, somehow, he felt really  _really_ light at that moment.

Warrick didn't let go.

Neither did Emma.

He counted the beats of her heart against his chest. They were louder and harder than he'd ever felt.

One. Two. Three.

Slowly, so slowly, Emma peeled herself away from Warrick and he missed her heartbeat the second it was gone.

She said nothing as she hugged herself and walked a little more towards the edge, taking in all of Calliope.

"So, this is where you were with Elaine the other night."

He wasn't cold but he missed her warmth, so he crossed his arms over his chest. "You make it sound creepy." He joked. Emma didn't respond, she just turned to look at the full moon before sitting down. Warrick sat down right next to her.

"Do you miss Oz?" Emma blurted. She hugged her knees to her chest.

"Sometimes," Warrick confessed softly. "Not much, though. There wasn't much for me there."

"Your family."

He shrugged. "Selva's the most important part of it, and we were estranged before you came along. Besides, she's here with me."

"What about your castle?"

He raised an eyebrow. "It was a nightmare to clean and for some reason it kept being invaded."

"What do you mean 'for some reason'? You were a jerk to the entire kingdom!"

Warrick did something unusual. He grinned, he thought, and thought he might look a bit like Alice. Emma's eyes widened when he did. "Warrick, the Wicked Warlock of the West, remember?"

Emma threw her head back and laughed. 

" _That's_ a mouthful." She grinned, and held herself a little tighter, clearly cold.

That thing that spoke for him sometimes apparently had a mind of its own too, because it took ahold of Warrick's body for just a few seconds. His arms were acting completely divorced from his mind. Especially because there was no way in  _Oz_ in which he would've ever dared to do what they seemed to be attempting.

It was almost in slow motion and he was horrified that he couldn't stop it.

One of his hands opened his black overcoat and somehow managed to reach it out to Emma, pulling her closer to him and covering her some.

Warrick-who-wasn-t-Warrick was smooth.

Warrick-who- _was-_ Warrick was horrified.

He was ready to freak out. To apologize. To pull back and sort of pretend it never happened. Terror seized him. Oh Oz, what if this upset Emma? Oh god  _why--_

But she leaned in.

Everything that was ever part of Warrick's sensory system was down for maintenance. There was nobody home in his head. He was a little person trapped inside the head of a big idiot and he was very much freaking out.

Emma rested her head on his shoulder, leaning into the warmth of his coat. The arm that had pulled her closer relaxed and rested, just over her shoulder. 

He had never, ever  _ever_ felt this warm. And he would never forget the scent of coffee, as long as he lived.

"I can see why Elaine likes the roof." Emma said, her voice soft. Warrick didn't know what to answer, and Warrick-who-wasn't-Warrick apparently was no longer home, so it was all up to him.

"I'm sorry you missed the trip." He said dumbly.

Emma just sighed, relaxed, and it was hard not to think about how perfectly she fit under his coat.

"Actually I preferred the day off." She replied. 

"So do I." He said, even though Selva would've given him  _hell_ for it after being moody the entire morning for missing it. 

They stayed quiet for several minutes. Or maybe hours. Or maybe just seconds. He couldn't tell.

He could only tell that Emma was nodding off and snapped her head up, bumping him in the chin.

"Ouch!" he yelped, rubbing his chin.

"Ow!" she complained, massaging her head. "Crap. Sorry." She yawned and disentangled herself from him and his coat, taking her warmth. "I guess I'm really tired."

Warrick pretended not to miss the contact with all his might. Instead, he stood up, opening his arms.

"Take you to your room?" He offered with his tiny Emma-smile.

Emma just walked over to him and wrapped her arms around his chest. He held her tight before taking flight. This time, he did not bother pretending to himself that he was holding her for her benefit.

* * *

He set her down gently, only a few steps from her door. He tried not to look at it. Right now, he  _hated_ that door.

This time, Emma didn't take three beats to let him go. She just stepped back and smiled tightly, looking at the floor.

"Thanks... for bringing me." She said. Warrick willed her to look at him, just a second. He just wanted to see her look at him again. Like last time, when they were standing in this hallway and just being held in her gaze had put the world behind.

"I liked hanging out with you tonight." Warrick-who-wasn't-Warrick said.  _Seriously_ this guy had weird timing.

Emma smiled and raised her gaze towards him, effectively trapping him once again, like a deer in headlights.

"Me too. I kind of miss that from Oz."

He half smiled. "Me too."

They were quiet. Without her heartbeats, he didn't know how much time had passed.

Emma licked her lips. "Well... I guess... this is goodnight." She said, and he could hear the hesitation in her voice. Her back was to the door of her room, facing him, and he caught her stealing a glance from his face, and that was it.

Warrick-who-wasn't-Warrick took over.

The entire motion was fluid, like a wave of the sea. He moved with the breeze and took a single step forward and lowered his head in the same movement as his hand caught her cheek. Later he couldn't exactly pinpoint  _when_ it had happened, just that at one point he was empty, and the next his lips were pressed against hers and everything inside of him was so filled with light that he might burst.

There was a thunder in his ribcage --a single beat-- and it came from him. It became completely unimportant the second he felt her hands ball into fists in his coat.

She pulled him closer to her, and he was more than happy to oblige. Her head pushed back against his and it was  _marvelous_.

Kissing Emma was everything he never expected it to be. There were fires breaking out under his skin that only fanned the warmth inside his chest. His fingers laced around her hair, and he felt her warm hands slide over his shoulders and pull him closer against her, trying desperately to lower him to her height.

The amazing thing was that Warrick-who-wasn't-Warrick was probably actually-Warrick-all-along, but he let the way clear so that he could feel everything.

It felt as if all that time being dead had suddenly ceased. Like everything he hadn't been able to feel or think or try until now was unleashed.

This was what Amora had died for, wasn't it?

How could he  _ever_ blame her?

How could he blame Amora when he was here, wrapped around someone that made his heart beat like it hadn't in years? When he was here learning what  _alive_ could mean?

Emma pulled back an inch from him. Her cheeks were flushed and her eyes were glittering and her lips were parted and he really,  _really_ wanted to kiss her again.

"I--" she started, but didn't know how to follow that sentence. It was quite alright, Warrick didn't know, either.

"Its okay," he said, and wow, he was also panting. He didn't need to breathe, but he was panting. "Its okay, Emma," oh, Oz, he loved saying her name. 

Mostly he loved whispering her name, only inches away from her face.

"You should go to rest," he whispered. He could see the gratitude in her eyes. He could see her exhaustion there, too. "We can meet tomorrow..."

Truth is, he most  _definitely_ didn't want to let go, but he had to. And even as she pulled back, he didn't feel as if she took her warmth with her. Rather, this time it felt as if she'd ignited a hearth inside of him too, to keep him warm as well.

Emma nodded and looked at him for a second before giving him another smile.

She stood on the tip of her toes and pressed her lips against his once more, sweet, gentle and loving.

He had to actively stop himself from holding her closer and never letting her go.

Her forehead rested against his for a second. Everything was quiet save for their breaths, and the cool chilly air had nothing on the flames under their skins. She smiled three times brighter than the moon, Warrick could've sworn.

"I'll see you tomorrow," he said softly and stole one last kiss. Emma smiled against his lips.

"Tomorrow," she echoed, but didn't part.

They held on to each other's atmosphere for another beat before Emma was the stronger of the both and stepped back. She was still smiling.

"Goodnight, Warrick," she whispered, but he heard her perfectly.

"Goodnight, Emma." He answered.

Emma closed the door behind her, and Warrick couldn't erase that idiot smile from his face. Not during the two minutes that he stood at her door, not as he shrugged off his clothes and crawled into bed, and not as he knocked on the wall next to his bed, signaling his 'goodnight' to Emma, who knocked back.

He stared at the ceiling, feeling light as air, and vaguely thought how glad he was for not listening to Selva's advice about "behaving".

 

 

 

 

 


End file.
